About 100 workers from a St. Clair Shores nursing home conducted a one-day strike Tuesday on allegations of bad faith in bargaining, including inadequate wage proposals and other take-aways, by the owner.

Sign-wielding, chanting workers represented by SEIU Health Care Michigan gathered in front of Regency at St. Clair Shores on Great Mack Avenue, a quarter-mile south of Nine Mile Road. It is one of five facilities owned by Ciena Healthcare that were on strike to demand more reasonable offers after their contracts expired last January.

Some 300 SEIU-represented workers at the St. Clair Shores facility, three nursing homes in Detroit and one in West Bloomfield are asking for an increased wage scale for Certified Nursing Assistants and increased starting rates for Ciena workers in other areas, including housekeeping/laundry, dietary, activities, cooking and maintenance. Other demands include improvements to shift differentials, annual raises for every worker, paid sick time, holidays, and health insurance.

Several striking CNAs at Regency told The Macomb Daily they are underpaid for their work and criticized CIENA for only offering a raise as low as 50 cents per hour while SIEU is asking for over $2 per hour. CNAs pay range is $17.50 to $22.50 with the opportunity for some to reach $23.50, according to Amelia Wiget of the SEIU, who joined the workers in St. Clair Shores.

“We’re on strike because we’re not getting proper wages,” said CNA Shekethia Talley. “We don’t get value for the work we do. The work is strenuous. It takes a heart of compassion. We’re dedicated workers. We are not valued. We provide very skilled activities of daily living. … We do a variety of things. We want to be paid appropriately for the services we provide.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for a CNA is $19 per hour.

CNAs help nursing care facility residents with daily activities that “can include bathing and other hygiene tasks, getting dressed, eating, taking medication” and moving around, according to Oakland Community College.

One proposal by Ciena that is exclusive to the CNAs in St. Clair Shores is forcing them to take a half-hour unpaid lunch, according to SEIU. Currently, the CNAs are paid for the 30-minute respite during their 8-hour shift.

Workers also were on strike at Boulevard Temple Care Center on West Grand Boulevard, Qualicare Nursing Home and The Regency at Chene on East Vernor Highway in Detroit and Noting Hill of West Bloomfield on Drake.

Other elements of Ciena’s proposals, according to SEIU, are:

Boulevard Temple would pay more every month for their health insurance than non-union employees who work in the same nursing home.

Workers at Notting Hill would receive no vacation time in their first year and only one day the second year.

Elimination of the ability for workers to sell back unused sick time at the end of the year, and employees only receive $150 per week as a short-term disability benefit.

Ciena refuses to memorialize workers rights enshrined in the National Labor Relations Act as the Trump Administration cuts funding to the National Labor Relations Board and threatens to eliminate it entirely.

Retroative pay excluded.

While workers at the St. Clair Shores facility have been working on an expired contract for five months, their peers at the other four facilities have been working without a deal for longer, as far back as January 2024.

Ciena said in a written statement the labor deals at each facility “are separate and distinct agreements not linked to each other.”

“First and foremost, our impacted facilities have made necessary preparations and are continuing to provide quality care to all residents during these strikes by SEIU Healthcare of Michigan,” Ciena said.

“These strikes at this time by SEIU Healthcare of Michigan are unnecessary given that (i) none of the collective bargaining agreements are at an impasse, (ii) two facilities are in the early stages of bargaining, (iii) SEIU Healthcare of Michigan has not been in a hurry to reach new agreements until now (failing to provide dates to bargain and canceling scheduled sessions) and (iv) at each bargaining table, the employer has offered numerous contract enhancements including wage increases for each year of the contract and for years of seniority. Simply stated, this strike is diverting attention away from bargaining to resolve the few remaining open issues in each agreement and we look forward to working with the Union to obtain favorable contracts for our employees.

“Ciena Healthcare leadership appreciates the work done by all employees who are members of the collective bargaining units represented by SEIU Healthcare of Michigan and provide quality care to our residents on a daily basis.”

In response, SEIU called Ciena’s statement “disingenuous at best” and its claim of early bargaining “a lie,” SEIU said.

“We are asking Ciena to come to the table with the intent to respect these workers and solve the drastic high turnover rate,” SEIU added. “Rather than offering solutions, Ciena has resorted to bullying and threatening workers, resulting in multiple Unfair Labor Practice complaints. They are violating federal labor law to silence these workers, who have waited too long for too little.”

The St. Clair Shores facility was fully staffed Tuesday as Ciena brought workers from other facilities for a one-time assignment, with CNA replacements being paid $250 for a shift, according to Wiget.

Several striking CNAs said they often have to take care of many more patients at a time than the eight or nine they should care for, sometimes double or triple that amount. They also complained the facility is sometimes short on supplies, most notably towels.

One resident, John Friend, sat in a wheelchair just outside the front entrance watching the activities and talking on his phone as others watched through a window.